


Swimming in the Sunlight

by sparklinglemonade



Category: Long Exposure (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Love Confessions, M/M, Meeting the Parent(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 10:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11598726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklinglemonade/pseuds/sparklinglemonade
Summary: Mitch takes Jonas to meet his mom, and says the words he's wanted to say for a long, long time.





	Swimming in the Sunlight

Jonas’ fingers tremble against the buttons of his shirt, a saffron yellow hand-me-down that he thought would pair nicely with the striped blue sweater he’s wearing. His heart pounds against his chest, an erratic rhythm that reflects the anxiety twisting in his stomach.

Although he almost feels like he’s about to pass out from nerves, Jonas knows that the anxiety coursing through him is the good kind; his chest feels light, like the excitement in him is going to lift him off the ground.

This night is special; he’s going to have dinner with Mitch and his mom.

They’ve been dating seriously for a while now, and Mitch’s mom Henrietta had recently been released from prison a few days ago. Mitch had been there to pick her up in Scratch’s car, but Jonas had been stuck in school, which was a shame. He would have loved to have been there to greet Henrietta and see the expression on Mitch’s face when they reunited.

Jonas finishes buttoning up his shirt after a few frustrating minutes. He knows he shouldn’t be so damn nervous to meet his boyfriend’s mom; after all, it’s not even the first time he’s met her - the first being in the visiting room at the Sunshine State Women’s Facility where she was serving time.

But this feels like an official occasion; he’s officially getting to know Henrietta, he’s officially having dinner with his boyfriend’s parent for the first time, he’s officially solidifying his and Mitch’s relationship, oh god, what if he screws it up, what if Henrietta realises she hates him, realises that he’s not good enough for her son, _oh god_ –

The doorbell rings.

Jonas snaps out of his internal breakdown, quickly pulling on his sweater and sprinting down to the door before any of the other foster kids can get there. In a dumb stroke of luck, the day that Mitch had suggested they have dinner was the day Dean and Sue had decided to have a special outing for just the two of them. Jonas told them he would be having dinner with Lewis and his family, and Dean had agreed as long he was back before his curfew; Dean hasn’t relinquished his distaste to Mitch, and Jonas isn’t keen on facing the consequences of him finding out about their relationship.

Jonas opens the door. His face is met with a brush of warm summer air, and his heart stutters in his chest. Mitch is waiting on the doorstep, wearing a red flannel shirt that’s rolled up somewhat neatly at the elbows but with his same ratty jeans and dirty converse sneakers. He smiles down at Jonas, a sweet, dopey smile that makes Jonas want to melt into the ground.

"Hey, Joey".

"Hi, Mitch", Jonas says, the same lovesick smile probably reflected onto his own face.

"Oh - I brought these for you." Mitch awkwardly thrusts out a bouquet of daisies and tulips, wrapped in butter yellow tissue paper.

"Oh, thank you! I love them." Jonas blushes, heat rising to his face as he accepts the flowers.

He thumbs the soft, pastel-coloured petals before the gift reminds him that he has a Tupperware of warm brownies he had slaved over the entire afternoon leading up to the dinner. "I made some brownies for you and your mom. Just come in for a while, I’ll put these flowers in some water and get them."

Mitch is dragged in by Jonas’ soft hand and stands by. As he waits, he hears footsteps come down the stairs and is met with the hard, green-eyed stare of Joey’s clone. Mitch automatically feels himself go on the defensive, ready to snap at whatever insult or threat Sidney has for him, but she just raises an eyebrow at him and says, "Hey. Hope you guys have fun."

"Thanks," he says, genuine surprise evidently colouring his voice because Sidney snorts before she makes her way to the kitchen, saying a brief goodbye to her brother as he hurries over to Mitch.

"Ready?" Mitch asks, grinning down at Joey.

"Yup!" Jonas answers, and the way he says it, with such nervous excitement, makes Mitch’s chest throb with love for the impossibly cute boy with a Tupperware full of warm brownies in his hands.

They pile into Scratch’s car that she had happily agreed to let Mitch borrow - he had narrowly avoided her becoming their personal chauffeur for the night per her insistence.

The drive to Mitch’s trailer park isn’t far, but Mitch wanted Joey to be as comfortable as possible. He knows from the drawn together position of his eyebrows and the way he twists his hands in his lap that he’s nervous, and Mitch reaches over the gear stick to take one of Joey’s hands in his.

“Shit, Joey, whatchu’ lookin’ so stressed for?”

Jonas purses his lips, contemplating their laced fingers before he gives him a shaky smile, “Uh – hah. I don’t know, I guess I’m just being anxious over nothing.”

Mitch frowns slightly. “Ya know my mom loves you right? I mean, ya even baked brownies – at this rate, she’ll be adopting ya as her second son. Wait, no, that’s weird as shit - ”

Jonas snorts at the disgusted expression on Mitch’s face, and then sighs, squeezing their fingers.

“I know, I know. It’ll be fine.”

Mitch squeezes his fingers back.

“Hell yeah it will.”

 

Soon enough, they arrive at the trailer park and make their way to Mitch’s trailer.

Mitch opens the door, and Henrietta is there to greet them, a wide smile on her face as she opens up her lanky arms to Jonas.

“There ya are! Oh, Jonas, you look so handsome tonight.”

“Thanks, Mrs – um, Henrietta. I brought these brownies for you.”

Henrietta gasps in delight, clapping her nail lacquered hands together. “Aren’t ya just the sweetest thing!” She pinches Jonas’ cheek gently whilst he laughs with her. Mitch rolls his eyes.

“Is your aunt joining us?” Jonas asks Mitch, noticing the lack of a usually inebriated aunt.

“Nah. She’s over at another trailer. Ma didn’t want her ruinin’ our dinner.”

Henrietta smacks him lightly. “I just wanted you boys to myself.”

 

They crowd into the small table in the trailer’s cramped kitchenette, but Jonas thinks that it’s cosy and familiar – unlike his foster home, which is uncomfortably barren of anything resembling evidence that a bunch of kids live there. Dean never tolerates any kind of mess.

Henrietta has prepared mac and cheese for them, and there’s a small bowl of nachos sitting in the corner of the table near Mitch’s side, along with some dip.

“This looks really good, Henrietta,” Jonas says, eyeing the mac and cheese as his stomach starts to growl. She smiles at him in response. “Thank you, dearie. Mitch helped me prepare it. He did tell me you liked this type of pasta.” She leans in closer and lowers her voice in a mock-whisper as if she’s sharing a secret, “He tells me a lot of things about ya, Joey. He never shuts up!” She cackles as Jonas turns to Mitch, only to see him turn an impressive shade of red. Jonas starts to blush too at the thought of Mitch telling his mom about him, at the thought that Mitch would be talking and thinking about him when he isn’t around.

God, he needs to calm down.

“Oh my god, Ma. Let’s just eat,” Mitch says.

They dig in to the food, and for once, Mitch barely feels the hot shame that claws at his insides whenever he tries to eat in front of people. But seeing Joey and Henrietta laugh together as they spoon the mac and cheese onto their plates eases his heart, and he manages to silence the small voice in his head that’s begging him to push away the food in front of him.

The dinner is amiable and easy, an air of general happiness surrounding their little table. Henrietta asks Joey about school, and his friends, and if Mitch is treating him well, which elicits another eye-roll from Mitch. He can see that Joey is relaxing from the way his shoulders slump slightly from the tensed position they had been in, and the way he stops glancing at Mitch nervously as if to ask if he’s doing okay. As if he wasn’t already perfect just the way he was.

They finish their meal, and Henrietta stands up to get some small plates and forks to eat the brownies with.

“I’ll be right back, boys.”

Mitch looks at the brownies. Joey baked them himself, but he doesn’t know if he can keep them down without spiralling into another self-deprecating episode. Joey notices him glaring at the offending platter of brownies, and he places a warm hand on Mitch’s forearm.

“You don’t have to eat them, Mitchy. I won’t mind,” he says softly, and Mitch deflates, his tension gone as quickly as it had come. He smiles back down at Joey and suddenly he’s overwhelmed with a sensation of burning, fervid love for the soft boy with green eyes and dark freckles, and he almost blurts out the words he’s wanted to say for a long, long time –

“Here we go! I can’t wait to try these, Jonas, they look delicious,” Henrietta interrupts, and the moment is gone. She sighs happily when she spoons a bite into her mouth, praising Joey loudly for his baking skills. He thanks her bashfully, looking down into his lap.

Jonas notices his watch, and his heart jumps in his chest when he realises how close it is to his curfew. Mitch raises an eyebrow at his distressed face, saying, “Ya gotta go now, Joey?”

He nods, “Yeah. Soon, probably, or Dean’ll be angry.”

Henrietta makes a disapproving face; she knows about Dean, and from what Mitch has told her, she hates him too, and the way he treats Jonas and the other foster kids. “Do ya need me to give ‘im a talkin’ to, honey? It’s ridiculous that ya have a curfew, you’re eighteen years old, for Chrissakes!”

“Uh, hah, that... probably won’t be a good idea,” Jonas replies hesitantly. She nods reluctantly, but the concerned look on her face remains.

“Oh well, lemme walk you too out the door.”

They say their goodbyes, Henrietta hugging Jonas with a motherly affection that makes Jonas’ heart surge with happiness and a heavy nostalgia for the loving parents he’s never had.

“It was lovely seeing you, Joey,” she says, her face softening, “You have no idea how glad I am that my Mitchy found someone like you. You take good care of him, alright?” Jonas nods eagerly back, before glancing back at Mitch for a moment then back to Henrietta and says, “I’m really glad I found someone like Mitch, too.”

Henrietta beams at him and pats his cheek before saying, “Alrighty. I’ll let Mitch take ya home.”

The trailer door closes, and Mitch slings a long arm over Jonas’ narrow shoulders, Joey’s hand reaching up to grasp Mitch’s wrist gently as they walk in the evening twilight back to the car. Mitch smacks a kiss to Jonas’ dark curls before they part to get in the car.

They pull out of the trailer park. Joey tells Mitch how much he enjoyed the dinner, and how much he adores Henrietta, their tranquil conversation fading away after a few minutes. A few moments pass before Mitch pierces the gentle silence filling the car.

“Did ya really mean that, Joey?”

Jonas looks at him, confused. “Mean what?”

“That – that y’re glad to find someone like me.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m really, really glad,” Joey replies immediately, the genuineness of his words hitting Mitch like summer raindrops, seeping into his skin and warming him.

They fall back into silence, but Mitch can feel himself suddenly bursting with the words he’s been holding back. His pulse quickens as he stops the car at a junction, even though there aren’t any other cars around.

Jonas is apparently lost in his own thoughts, because he doesn’t comment on their sudden stop, his face graced with a small smile.

“Jonas.”

“Hm?” Jonas turns to him.

“I. Um – I...”

Jonas tilts his head, like a fucking puppy, and Mitch loves him _so fucking much_ –

“I love you,” he blurts.

The words are out now, in the air conditioned air between them, and Jonas gapes at him. Mitch is surprised at how quickly he feels his throat start to close up at the shocked expression on Joey’s face, so he starts forcing more words out of his mouth to ease his aching chest.

“I mean, I’ve been in love with you since like, fucking, _middle school_ and shit, but I love – I love you, I don’t really know what the fucking difference is, I just need - ”

“Mitch,” Jonas interrupts suddenly. He says, voice soft and with the slightest trace of surprise in it, like he’s having a revelation, “I love you too.”

Mitch snaps his mouth shut.

“Fuck,” he says. There’s silence, and Jonas snorts.

Mitch recovers quickly on his exterior, but his heart is still pounding as if he’s in the middle of an adrenaline rush. “Shit. Fuck. You do?”

“Of course I do, Mitchy. I love you a lot,” Jonas says. “It didn’t take me that long to figure it out after we started dating. I guess – uh, I just didn’t have the guts to say it to you first.”

There’s a beat of silence in the car before Mitch reaches over to take Joey’s hands in his, again, and clasps it in between his large hands. He kisses the small, freckled knuckles gently as Jonas gives him a wide, happy smile.

“I fuckin’ love you, Joey,” Mitch mumbles against his hands, and Jonas gently unclasps one of his hands to stroke Mitch’s cheek.

“I love you too, Mitch.”

 

They reach Jonas’ neighbourhood, Mitch stopping in front of the Wagner house. The windows are all dark, thankfully, because it means that none of the other foster kids will see them in the car.

“Okay,” Jonas says to Mitch. “Okay,” Mitch repeats back to him, and they both laugh quietly. Jonas grasps Mitch’s bare forearm and leans forward to press a kiss against Mitch’s rough lips. They kiss softly for a few moments, Mitch’s hand pressed into Jonas’ pliable waist, before Jonas pulls back, slightly breathless.

“I should go. Good night, Mitch.”

Mitch pulls him back in for one more gentle kiss, mumbling a “night, baby” against his lips. Jonas gets out of the car with a sweet smile on his face, waving back to Mitch when he gets on the porch steps. Mitch waits until he’s closed the door to his house, staring for a few beats at the heavy door that his boyfriend disappeared behind before driving off, unable to control the grin that splits his face.

 

Jonas only makes it to the foot of the stairs before he has to press a hand to his chest to calm his erratic heartbeat, a giddy, wide grin upturning the corners of his mouth before he can stop it.

He makes his way up the stairs, into his bedroom, and goes to bed with happiness blooming in his chest, but not before he texts another good night and another “ _I love you_.” to Mitch.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic i've ever written, so i hope it's not too boring.
> 
> Shout out to all the other amazing fic writers in this small fandom for inspiring me to write shit (thx to littlejedi for the prison name Henny was in)
> 
> Pls correct me if i have any mistakes, i welcome any and all concrit. fucking roast me
> 
> (Also, sorry if the food choice was weird. i dunno what white people eat)


End file.
